A Council Of Captains

"Enter."

Shirish straightened his jacket, took a deep breath and opened the door. The office beyond was larger than his own ready room and the three men seated didn't get up because of the seat belts they were wearing. He floated in slowly and saluted at the edge of the desk. "Captain Shirish Gonzalez reporting as ordered, sir."

The man behind the desk saluted back. "A pleasure to meet you, Captain," Admiral Carstairs replied, "but you were asked here, not ordered here, so there's no reason to stand on ceremony." He nodded to the two other men seated across from him. "Captains Jeremy Kallis and Bill Cargano." The two nodded to the new arrival.

Cargano spoke up. "No offense, Gonzalez, but I expected you to be Hispanic, not Indian."

"Happens all the time, sir." Shirish replied. "My family picked up the name back when the Portuguese still owned Goa."

"My family made it's mark in Pondicherry. Small world I'd say, yes?" Kallis' Englishness radiated.

Before Shirish could respond, Cargano spoke up. "And I like Darjeeling tea. Now that we've all expressed our love for the Subcontinent, can we get to the matter at hand?"

Shirish let out a low "Yes, sir."

Cargano spoke again. "We're all Captains here. We know you're new, but you don't have to call us 'sir'." He motioned to Carstairs. "And that boy-lover least of all!", he said with a slight grin.

Carstairs quipped back. "There's only one boy I care about. That reminds me... How is your wife and my son?"

Shirish began to turn red as the laughter filled the room. "Besides, new or not, you're currently leading Earthforce in capital ship kills." Carstairs brought the room back to business. "Please. Have a seat, Captain Gonzalez."

Shirish buckled himself into the empty seat as Cargano passed him a datapad and Carstairs began to speak. "We have more intel from the Delphi."

Shirish spoke up. "The Delphi, sir?"

"That's the scout ship that's been following the Dilgar," Carstairs replied. "They have reported that the Cat-Faces are towing in a small space station. It's not big enough to supply from, but it can serve as a system-wide C&C so that's going to be a strategic target at first good opportunity. There's more information about it on your pads but that's not the real problem. Gonzalez?"

Shirish felt the weight of all their eyes on him. Carstairs was part of the first contact with the Narn, he thought. Kallis had been taking on raider bands for years. Cargano? They were using some of his orbital assaults for training at the Academy. What could I possibly report to these men? His wits returned and he opened his mouth to speak. "Forty-one hours ago, I received word from the Curran, the scout assigned to my battlegroup, that Centauri forces had been seen entering system."

Kallis was noticeably taken aback. "What are those vultures doing here?"

"Unknown, but we have verified that they are not bearing the Imperial Crest. Their markings indicate they belong to House Drusella."

"According to Earth," Carstairs interjected, "they're not here on official business. I think we have ourselves a loose cannon looking to make a buck."

"More like a buck and a half." Cargano replied studying the information Shirish had broadcast to their pads. "They came here with about as much as we've got."

Carstairs spoke again. "And that's why I've called you all here. The Centauri involvement complicates things a bit. The Dilgar are our primary concern but I don't want to start an interstellar incident, either."

Shirish spoke up again. "This could work to our advantage. If the Centauri allied with the Dilgar, they wouldn't have to come all the way here to cause trouble for Earthforce. They could just attack where we're not heavily defended to draw off forces. If it's just a lone wolf, they'd get in a lot of trouble for endangering a treaty between Centauri Prime and Earth. I believe you are correct that someone just spotted an opportunity and is trying to, as you all say, 'make a buck'."

"I told you they're Vultures."

"Hmmm. And that's why the plan is changing," Carstairs spoke. "Originally I was going to have two battle groups out hunting and harassing Dilgar until we could pack them all together and finish them off. Unfortunately, the Centauri could probably finish off the winner easily. Even if they are our friends, I don't want to leave them with a foothold two jumps from Earth."

"So we let the vultures pick at Dilgar and wipe up after?" Kallis asked.

"We would be served well to keep this long and drawn out. Every ship the Dilgar send here is a ship that's not on the front lines. And eventually the Centauri will lose their will if it drags on long enough. Not enough profit..." Cargano said.

Shirish was concerned. "That's a lot of men and ships we could lose if this goes on a long time."

Kallis retorted. "If it makes it easier for Hamato to finish the war, it's completely worth it."

"Agreed." Carstairs sat up a little straighter. "We're going to be playing a little fast and loose with battlegroup assignments since we're facing two different styles of warfare but the Dilgar are the primary threat and they're the ones we want. If you have to mix it up with the Centauri, do so and win, but come back alive. They're an annoyance, not the enemy." The finality of his words was apparent. "Anything else?"

The silence was palpable as Cargano spoke up. "Yes. Your face looks like the waste from a plasma reactor."

Laughter split the tension as Carstairs' datapad flew at Cargano. "Get out of my office, you guys!" Everyone unbuckled and began to float. "Oh, and Captains... Good luck and good hunting."